The Lost Spirits
by Sakura Martinez
Summary: Pitch Black has fallen. The Tainted Moonbeams have been purged, cleansed, and returned to their Master. The children have been rescued. But Guardians' battle is far from over as an ancient being threatens to dominate all of spirit-kind and wrestle the peace and stability that the Man in the Moon had sought for Earth. There is also Pyro Jack and the one promise he intends to keep.
1. Prologue

**A Rise of the Guardians/Guardians of Childhood Fanfic**

**By Sakura Martinez**

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

I cannot apologize enough for the delay of this sequel. I know I promised to release it sooner, but things kinda went out of hand with all the other things that needed my attention so...as you can see, it got delayed.

Anyways, I hope that you enjoy this new adventure I've cooked up. I'll try to update it as frequently as I can.

Don't forget to review!

Dream on; Fly on!

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><p><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>

I do not, in any capacity, own the Guardians of Childhood/Rise of the Guardians franchise. If I did, this would not be a fanfic, but an actual canon story.

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><p><strong>Summary:<strong>

Pitch Black has fallen. The Tainted Moonbeams have been purged, cleansed, and returned to their Master. The children have been rescued. But Guardians' battle is far from over as an ancient being threatens to dominate all of spirit-kind and wrestle the peace and stability that the Man in the Moon had sought for Earth. There is also Pyro Jack, and the one promise he intends to keep.

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><p><strong>Rise of the Guardians<strong>

**The Lost Spirits**

**Prologue**

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><p>Darkness.<p>

The entity that is deep and ancient as time itself. It was there even before the worlds were created, and undoubtedly still be there beyond the end of time. It knows no singular form. It is _boundless._

It is much older than the Lunarian Empire. Much more ancient than the planet Tsar Lunar and his Guardians of Childhood had vowed to protect the children of. To the entity known by so many names—the entity called 'Darkness'—they are mere ephemeral beings, much younger than the truly ancient of their kind.

And there are much older beings. Older than the Sandman, or the Pooka race. Beings that predated those who served and were blessed by the light of the moon.

These ancient spirits were the first protectors of the planet known as "Earth". They were beings of unrestrained power; creatures that bowed to no one. They were rulers of their own domain, only equal to their peers. Despite their power, however, they have long been forgotten by human and spirits alike.

The Darkness was, therefore, there even before Pitch Black came into being. It existed as the true ruler of the Nightmare Men and Fearlings, who were weaker representations of itself; the one who whispered in the ears of Dream Pirates and those with ill intent.

The Darkness has a name, one that the world had forgotten. A name which was lost when the Nightmare King stepped into the limelight and waged war against the Golden Age and those that thrived in it.

Yet even as the Darkness lay forgotten, it did not mind. The Darkness thrived in whatever chaos Pitch Black cooked up. The Darkness reveled in them. To the entity, the Nightmare King was merely a pawn to a much grander scheme.

The hero-turned-villain, corrupted by the darkness and the shadows he had sought to destroy, had done what the Darkness hoped he would. He had served the entity's purpose. And now that Pitch Black had been defeated, his powers severed from him, the Darkness knew it was time to act; to turn his scheming into actual machinations for the world to experience.

The Ultimate Darkness is an entity that can swallow and raze everything in its path. It can transform the world in its wake, turning heroes into villains; love into hate.

Earth's final hour has come. The Man in the Moon and his Guardians of Childhood's final curtain call was at hand.

Their return had been set in motion. They had everything that they needed, including the host that will cater the needs of the oldest and most powerful spirit on Earth.

It was time to remind the human world and the spirit world of their power.

"The time has come, my friends," the nameless entity spoke, its voice strong and echoing. "Pitch Black has fallen."

"It's about damn time," spoke another, his voice rough and unrefined. "I'm sick and tired of all this waiting!"

"We didn't have a choice. Acting so soon would have resulted in nothing but our own downfall." Came another voice, a dainty one. "Besides, we have all agreed to let Pitch Black do all the work for us, did we not?"

"And Mother had also fallen asleep, so we were a whole lot weaker than before. It would have been dangerous to challenge Tsar Lunar and his people." Reminded yet another voice—a child-like one. "But now she's waking…and it's all thanks to this child."

"Curious, wouldn't you say?" the one with the dainty voice asked. "That this child would be a match for Mother."

"We're lucky then," the rough-voiced one huffed. "that we snatched such a prize."

All eyes turned to the unconscious, human girl that was floating at the center of the dark cavern.

It really was luck that they had found her, wrestling her away from one of the Four Wind Lords. It certainly saved them a lot of time. Time that they could now use to further their own agendas.

But the human girl was not the only thing they had obtained. They have also captured that particular Wind Lord.

The being known as Eurus struggled in her confines, unable to break free no matter how much it lashed out. Watching the spirit of the southeast wind entertained those who have gathered.

"I suppose we can get started on that," the one with the child-like voice suggested. "I mean, we already have one of them, right? We've proven we could do it!"

"Hmmm?" the dainty one thought for a moment, although it was obvious she had already arrived at a decision herself. Turning to her gruff-looking companion, she asked, "Well, what do you think?"

He shrugged. "Why ask me? It's not like my word can sway what you all want right now. Unless, of course, our good friend has something else in mind."

The Darkness said nothing in reply. It did not mind whatever course those with him took, the destination will still be the same after all.

"That's settled then," the roughian sighed. "Time to _collect_ some spirits for Mother."


	2. A Change in the Wind

**A Rise of the Guardians Fanfic**

**By Sakura Martinez**

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

_Update time!_

I'm really thankful for the reviews this story has garnered. I'm hoping this would be as great (if not even better) than the first Rise of the Guardian fanfic I wrote. I would have updated yesterday but there was a typhoon and my internet connection decided to take the day off. It's still raining cats and dogs outside though.

Anyways, enough of that. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I'll be updating this again on Friday.

Until then, dream on; fly on!

(Oh, and don't forget to review! d(^_^)b )

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><p><strong>Summary:<strong>

Pitch Black has fallen. The Tainted Moonbeams have been purged, cleansed, and returned to their Master. The children have been rescued. But Guardians' battle is far from over as an ancient being threatens to dominate all of spirit-kind and wrestle the peace and stability that the Man in the Moon had sought for Earth. There is also Pyro Jack, and the one promise he intends to keep.

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><p><strong>Rise of the Guardians<strong>

**The Lost Spirits**

**A Change in the Wind**

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><p>Change.<p>

It is a strange concept. An unpredictable one. It isn't the rate by which change occurs that causes others to take pause and reflect, but that which change brings.

For beings whose lives are fleeting, like the ripple of water or the impact of a wave on the shore, changes occur rapidly regardless of how monotonous one may think their life had been. Even if one were to stand idly by and chose not to change himself, those around him—his surroundings—transform. And, sometimes, without him knowing it, he transforms along with it.

Change can be a choice, or it can be the uncontrollable result of something.

For the Guardians of Childhood, the change was a welcome one…even if it was startling and sudden.

None of them had expected Tsar Lunar—the Man in the Moon—to choose another Guardian so soon, nor the fact that said Guardian would be the very person who had almost cost them Jack Frost; the person who willingly worked with Pitch Black and who had killed the ancient Winter King: the Guardian of Will and Autumn Spirit, Pyro Jack. The shock it caused them could rival that of the knowledge that Jack Frost had been chosen and crowned as the new Winter King. At the time, however, they had to push down the emotion and focus on what needed to be done.

Another one of those changes was the relationship the Guardian of Fun and Mischief and the Guardian of Memories now have. Although the two had tried to hide it at first, desiring that their relationship be kept private, it didn't take long for the others to notice that something was up. It didn't help that Pyro—wanting to annoy the Winter Spirit—had seen the two cuddling and on the verge of making out and didn't bother to keep what he had seen for himself. He caused the news of the two's relationship to travel like wild fire. Before the day was over, there was not a single spirit who didn't know that the Winter King and the Queen of the Toothfairies was, officially, an item.

To say that Pyro's actions had angered the two Guardians would be an understatement. North's Workshop—much to the dismay of the Guardian of Wonder, who was still recuperating and was already behind his schedule—became a damp and icy battlefield. Although Pyro had managed to save himself from being turned to an ice statue (he was, after all, a Flame Spirit), he wasn't so lucky when pitted against an equally furious Toothiana. The neophyte Guardian has a new scar at the bridge of his nose to show for it. The only way to stop the Workshop from turning into a winter warfront was the Sandman's dreamsands that knocked both Jack and Toothiana out.

But the biggest change, however, was the knowledge that Pitch Black had been utterly defeated. No sign of him remained. And though the Guardians of Childhood have yet to reconnect with the Man in the Moon and ask Tsar Lunar for his opinion on the matter, the Guardians began to believe, to truly hope, that the Nightmare King was gone and the new Golden Age could finally began.

Despite all the victories and triumphs that came from the culmination of the long war against the Nightmare King, the Guardians of Childhood couldn't truly celebrate. Not yet. There were still some outstanding mysteries that needed answers, things that needed closure, and a promise that needed to be kept.

Nicholas St. North was busy. Christmas was only a month away, he was behind schedule, and he was still recuperating from the battle against the Demon of Yule which almost cost him his life. His elves and Yetis were working double time, with only the latter actually providing any sort of help.

Queen Toothiana was just as occupied, fixing what had been destroyed of her palace while keeping her Mini Fairies in line with their responsibilities. When she is able, the Queen of the Toothfairies would head to the Pole to look after North, making sure he was healing properly.

The Sandman—Sanderson ManSnoozie—had taken to investigating the disappearance of the Nightmare Men and Fearlings. Although Pitch Black were capable of controlling them, the Guardian of Dreams knew it was impossible for the Nightmare Men and Fearlings to disappear so suddenly. Although Pitch controlled and ordered them around, he was as much their puppet as they were his. It was those dark creatures that had changed the Hero of the Golden Age into the Boogeyman, after all.

Jack Frost had the shorter end of the stick, however, with the rebellion threatening to destroy the kingdom of frost and ice. Jack didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he didn't want the Winter Kingdom to fall. Thus, he tried everything he could to fix things. But those who were fueling the rebellion want nothing short of revenge against Pyro—something that Jack _couldn't_ give. The whole thing was giving him a headache. His only escape and source of strength was Toothiana, whom he had taken a habit of spending time with whenever he was at the Pole or whenever they had time to meet in Punjam Hy Loo. But those soirees were so short for his liking and makes him feel in a funk afterwards. He wanted to spend time with her longer.

The foul mood that Jack constantly found himself in had consequences of its own, as it often does, to those around him. Snowstorms became more frequent and often would grow in intensity thanks to the other Winter and Snow Spirits and the rebellion. Thankfully, Jack had one constant companion in Baby Frost.

Baby Frost—the Snow Fairy that had transformed into a mini-version of Jack Frost—had been a big help to his King, despite his small size. With so many things to do, and not being able to be at two different places at once, Jack gave Baby Frost authority to act on his behalf.

Many of the denizens of the Winter Kingdom didn't acknowledge Baby Frost at first, but when the Snow Fairy showed them all just how capable he was—settling disputes and showing off his own abilities and powers—their view of him had slowly begun to change, some even begrudgingly respected the little fellow.

Still, regardless of the help Baby Frost and the other Snow Fairies were giving him, there seemed to be no end to the conflict in his kingdom. It was an accomplishment for the Guardian of Fun and Mischief to still remain sane and survive under the pressure of it all.

On the very top of that long list, which included the quandary of where the Nightmare Men and Fearlings had gone and the question of who supplied Pitch Black with the means to taint Tsar Lunar's Moonbeams, as well as a resolution to the on-going conflict in the Winter Kingdom—a conflict borne from Jack's refusal to pass the judgment of death on Pyro, was searching for the missing Bennett child along with the Southeast Wind.

Nathalie Bennett. Jamie's daughter. She was still missing and Pyro couldn't help blaming himself for it. He was the one who took her away from the chasm where all the other children were being kept. Pyro had begun to question his action that day and had begun to believe that whatever the reason was, his action was a mistake. What he had done that day, ironically, kept Nathalie Bennett from being returned to her parents.

He couldn't apologize profusely enough for not being able to keep her safe, first to the other Guardians and then to her father. Surprisingly, even Nyx went with him and Jack to that trip to the Bennett household to apologize. The boy who once stood against the Nightmare King merely shook his head at them and made them promise to bring his little girl back safe and sound.

Pyro had sworn on his life that he will. And by the look Jack had seen on the Flame Spirit's eyes that day, the Guardian of Fun could tell that he meant it.

And Pyro did try his best to search for the missing child. First, it was just him and Nyx. He didn't want the other Guardians' help. He told them it was his and Nyx's responsibility. But it soon became apparent that the method of travelling the Queen of the Night had didn't feel comfortable for Pyro. It was _too_ dark, and igniting any sort of flame—no matter how small, even if it was from the lantern the Flame Spirit was carrying around his belt—in turn, made it difficult for Nyx to control the dark passageways.

In the end, the two returned to the Pole empty-handed. It was during that time that the other Guardians stepped in.

There was a lot of arguing, especially when it came to who would go with Pyro. In the end, however, it was Bunnymund's company that Pyro ended up being with. The Guardian of Hope didn't like it, but they had no other options left. Everyone else was too busy. It didn't help that he had quite a few words to say about the company he enjoyed keeping—which meant Nyx—who had also decided to come along with them.

The conversations between the Pooka and the Fright Knight were short and clipped. There was an air around them, one that was far too heavy for Pyro's liking and one he really cannot do anything about. It wasn't as if Bunnymund and Nyx were fighting outright, but they were going through extreme lengths to act as if the other wasn't around.

"Tell the Pooka we haven't ssssssearched here," Nyx would say to Pyro. "Tell him to open the way out."

"Tell her Royal Nightness that there are no exits here," Bunnymund would say on occasion after Pyro had forwarded Nyx's message (despite the fact that the Pooka and the Queen of the Night were standing next to each other and could very well hear each other perfectly). "As she would know since she had travelled through my tunnels before."

"Tell the giant kangaroo that I would know if hissss tunnelssss aren't all a messsss."

"Tell the snake-lady that it's currently a mess because of what she did."

And on and on that would go. One could only guess the mood that descends upon the Autumn Spirit because of that and why he would often have a fleeting—and begrudging thought—that having Jack Frost around would've been better. That thought would only take a second to root itself upon the Flame Spirit's mind before he would shake it away.

On one particular afternoon, when the trio were scouting near the mountainous regions in Asia, Pyro decided that enough was enough. While Bunnymund was giving orders to his Egg Warriors, Pyro took Nyx aside.

"Issss there ssssomething wrong, Pyro?" Nyx asked, worried because of the look the Flame Spirit had.

Pyro ran a hand over his face.

_Is she seriously asking me that?_ He wondered as he eyed the Queen of the Night.

"Apart from still not finding any signs of Eurus and Nathalie?" Pyro sighed. "You and Bunnymund. Whatever's up with you two is driving me crazy. Can the two of you talk to each other like regular people instead of using me like a glorified messenger?"

Nyx smiled flirtatiously at Pyro as she slithered to him and ran a finger up his chest. "I don't know. I enjoy usssing you, Pyro Jack."

The Autumn Spirit scoffed, cheeks burning red, and looked away. Ever since they were reunited, the Queen of the Night seemed to have found it a personal pleasure to embarrass him that way. Seeing how flustered he looked made the Nyx laugh.

"Not funny," mumbled Pyro.

"I wasssn't trying to be. But you certainly can't fault me, Pyro. The Pooka and I…" Nyx sighed and shook her head. "Let'ssss jusssst ssssay it'ssss sssstill very hard for me not to want to choke him to death. I honesssstly think I never will be able to."

"Then why did you come with me? You didn't have to, you know."

"You're not the only one who feels guilt over what happened to the child, Flame Boy." Was all Nyx could say before Bunnymund called them over, giving them both a scrutinizing gaze.

"Did you find something?" Pyro asked, disregarding the look Bunnymund gave him and the look Nyx returned the Guardian of Hope.

"It's more like what I and my Egg Warriors _didn't_ find." Bunnymund said, dragging his eyes away from Nyx.

"An apology? Some act of repentance?" Nyx muttered under her breath, loud enough for only Pyro to hear. He shot her a look that begged not to start a fight.

Not hearing—or choosing not to hear—what Nyx said, the Pooka motioned for his companions to follow him as he began explaining, "Since we couldn't find any trace of little Nathalie, not even with North's globe, I thought it would be much easier—and much more productive—to look for that wind spirit of yours, Pyro."

"And?" Pyro tried not to sound too impatient.

"And I found nothing. Nada. Zilch."

"How doessss that help usssss?" Nyx annoyance showed with each syllable that she spoke. "We know that Eurussss can't be found."

"Yes, but we just assumed that maybe it's because she followed Pyro's instruction to heart." Bunnymund said in reply. "Or maybe Eurus got annoyed with this hothead. The point is: Eurus couldn't have just _disappeared._ The southeast wind is still blowing, after all. And what is Eurus but simply the southeast wind's representation? And since we can establish that a spirit—especially someone like the Southeastern Wind Spirit—can't just vanish, I thought about looking for Eurus' trail. And that's what I _didn't_ find. Eurus' trail, specifically. Even with the southeastern wind blowing around us, Eurus is absent."

"So?" Pyro didn't see the importance of what Bunnymund had just shared with them.

It was Nyx who spoke next. She had a thoughtful expression on her face as she said, "That _shouldn't _be possible. Eurus _is_ the southeastern wind."

The Guardian of Hope nodded gravely. "Unlike us Guardians of Childhood, other spirits don't need the belief of children to survive. They are practically much more invincible than us in that regard. And the only way for the southeastern wind to blow _without_ Eurus would be if someone else has taken her place."

"If there's a new southeastern wind spirit, shouldn't Boreas and the other wind spirits know? Frost had already asked and told me Boreas knew nothing of what happened to Eurus." Pyro pointed out.

"That's why, putting personal feelings aside, I believe _that_ is a much more troubling thing that our missing little Nathalie."


End file.
